Playing heart of africa rules in a 28mm campaign in the colonial period.
Faintly serious to the sublimely ridiculous as the European powers haggle and fight over every inch of Victorian Africa.
Apologies to anyone who browsed the campaign site before.when it vanished from my list of sites it came as a surprise to me too.
but it's back!
new battles and results to put on and more to come. pictures will be restored and alternative army lists renewed.
INTO THE DARKNESS campaign 1879
Guards Club Sheldon West Midlands
The numbered areas are taken from the Army Lists (Heart of Africa).They are close to their geographic locations historically but as you see there are shall we say 'exotic' colonial powers.
And why not? The Japanese? Just for fun and later, the Russians are coming! Far from taking liberties it allows some players to utilise figures they wouldn't normally use If the licence taken is
not excessive it doesn't upset the purists if we base a unit profile from the list on a nation or unit that has no business to be in
Central Africa. As long as they belong in the victorian era.
We have a colonial force with Sikhs (allowed anyway) Gurkhas,
Bengal Lancers and similar.An extreme of this campaign has been
Guy Roberts' "Search for Albert" Army.
Queen Victoria flees England under pressure from early socialist rebellions and starts empire building in Africa whilst Prince Albert is lost on safari.
The Coronation Coach as baggage raised some eyebrows at the club and the african footmen,John Brown and the housemaids, The ladies in waiting as bodyguards.
All good fun but the games are deadly serious Personally I will be fielding soon an Italian expeditionary Force For whom like other adjusted army lists have special rules. Should their Leader be out of line of sight they may 'siesta'
and cease all hostilities etc. Pictures of all our campaign games may soon be viewed in the Wargames online journal and in these campaign pages.
My correspondent for the Empire Post Lt Col. Sir Ranald ffoulkes Frere Dogstuffer KCVB YMCA and Bar
will keep the club informed as to their own exploits and further Lighten the atmosphere.
See his news sheets below
Campaign Rules:
the restrictions for forces in the Chris peers colonial army lists are applied.
The exceptions will be for additional troop types paid for from other colonial lists.
Such as british lancers for the natal.
Fortresses, whether on the coast or inland are built and are free from cost for games.Use the rules for gunboats for forts and fortessess. Accumulate damage as normal and if it fails two morale tests it's abandoned.
Gunboats attacking coastal forts are free. Gunboats attacking otherwise are paid for.
homeland tribal villages as capitals, such as ulundi are free.
Khartoum is an egyptian city and again free of cost.Cairo similarly.
this leaves antagonists free to garrison these strongholds in the normal way.
Any additional fortifications like tembes or european forts,defences are paid for from the army lists.
the map above shows the current situation
Queen Victoria continues to elude capture. The germans have been pushed back to the east coast by the He He.
The Ngoni/Zulu faction are pushed northwards by the british parliament army.
The Italians have landed in Somalia,the Russians too.
The Belgians are very quiet,unlike the cannibals in the congo basin.
The Turkish slavers are on the move again.
A rebellion by dutch settlers in the south looks imminent.
An Irish settler force have taken an Ngoni/Zulu province and Navvies are building a canal to link Lake Tanganyika to lake Victoria.
Admiral Carter Hayners Northern United States fleet continue to blockade the Congo estuary vainly searching for signs of the Southern United states ironclad which escaped upriver.
Commodore Haydn Seekhs' naval landing In Egypt was partially successful. They took Fort Mustafabutti but the town remains
in Turkish hands.A phenomenon occured during the game which is described in our correspondents report, (bottom of the page).
Belgian Archaeologists discovered an ancient gateway only to have it allow strange visitors through it and attack their party.
more news to be posted soon.
The harvests are gathered in. the winter over and the colonials are once more rampaging across Africa. Queen Victoria is no closer to finding Prince Albert. The Germans cling onto the East African coast. The Japanese land in Madagascar and the Russians in Somalia.
Results
The Northern Ngoni drive the British Parliament Column out of northern natal.
Their attempt to break through and capture Her majesty Queen Victoria and bring her home will have to wait.
A reinforced British column advances and drives the Ngoni back retaking Rorkes drift station.
They land a second force in north Africa plus a naval brigade from the Mediterranean fleet. The French send a stern telegram. The British parliament deny receiving it and advance south.
Lord Mucke’s column is repulsed by a cannibal coalition and falls back south of the Congo.
A British naval attack on Tunisia is under way
Email here
Links
More pix more battles more games to come...
New site for all things Zulu
"Into the Darkness"
Our club Colonial Afican Campaign
With the sublime to the ridiculous
and that's just the players.
Rules by Chris peers, God bless him.
His blood wants bottlin'.
Serialised games are in the online wargames journal
Pictures at
The Armies in Africa
Heart of Africa Campaign Results